Laundry starch composition



Patented Dec. 2, 1952 UNITED STATES LAUNDRY STARCH COMPOSITION George L. Hervert, Berwyn, 111., assignor to UniversalOil Products Company, Chicago, 111., a

corporation of Delaware No Drawing. Application June 13, 1949, Serial No. 98,871

8 Claims. 1

This invention relates to a novel composition of matter containing a laundry starching component, that is, a substance which stiffens or adds gloss to a fabric impregnated with the same and a component herein referred to aaansantisoil fixation agent which tends .to render the fabric more easily laundered when, soiled by subsequent wearing. More specifically, the present invention concerns a laundry starching composition containing a minor amount of a component which inhibits the tendency of oils and fats excreted in normal perspiration and retained in Wearing apparel worn next to the skin to undergo oxidation, thereby eliminating the soil fixation factor which accompanies the oxidationof such fats and oils.

It is one of theobjects of this invention to prepare a fabric stiffening composition, herein referred to as a starohing-composition,-containing ananti-soil fixation agent which will render the fabric when subsequentlysoiled more readily laundered in a shorter period of laundering and utilizing less detergent in the laundering operation. Another object of thisinventionis ,to provide a starching composition which is readily dissolved or suspended in water, is not poisonous to the person wearing fabric starched with such composition, is noneirritating, does not discolor in contact with hot ironing surfaces, and retards the oxidation of fats and oils coming in contact therewith, thereby retarding the fixation of soil deposited in the presence of said starching composition.

This invention embodies a starchingcomposition containing an anti-soil fixation agent and a fabric starching component.

A more specific embodiment of the invention concerns a starch composition containing an antisoil fixation agent selected from the partially or completely water-soluble or water dispersible, non-toxic and non-irritating organic-compounds having fat oxidation inhibiting properties.

Another specific embodiment of this invention concerns a starching composition which retards the oxidation of fats and oils in the soil of fabrics containing the starching'composition, said composition comprising' a water dispersible starch having present therein from about 0.01 to about 5% by weight of 2-tertiary alkyl-l-alkoxyphenol.

Other objects and embodiments of this invention will be referred to in greater detail in the following further description of the invention.

It is a matter of common experience that the removal of soil from fabrics is generally dependent not only upon various factors associated with the washing solution, that is, its temperature, composition, concentration of detergent therein, the mechanical action associated with the laundering operation and the length of time the laundering operation is continued, but is also dependent :upon the soil itself, .its composition, age, particle size, method of application, intensity, and the type of fabric upon which the. soil is deposited. One of the most common types of soil is that associated with the deposit of an oleaginous substance, such as a fat, oil, grease, etc.,.on the surface of the fabric and the subsequent retention of finely divided dust particles, soot, etc., in the oleaginous film, the soil eventually penetrating through the entire structure of the fabric fibers. In the case of many pieces of common wearing apparel, such as shirts, dresses, etc., having collars and cuffs, oils from the glands of the skin cover the fabric and increase the aiiinity of such parts of the wearing apparel ,for the retention of soil. It is alsoa matter of common observation (refer, for example, to Detergent Action of Soap by S. H. Rhodes et al., Industrial EngineeringChemistry, 21 (1929) onpage 62) that soil on fabrics becomes more resistant to removal by laundering when the soil isagedbefore laundering, presumably by virtue of the oxidation of the oils and fats in the soil which occurs on exposure of the soil to the atmosphere during aging. The effect of aginga soiled fabric on the removability of the soil containing tallow fat as a portion of the soil is shown by a'comparative series of tests on several swatches of cloth uniformly soiled at the same time with an identical soiling material, aged at varying lengths of time and each aged sample of soiled cloth washed in accordance with a standardized procedure in a Launderometer. The comparative'results of a series of such tests are indicated in the following table:

TABLE I Brightness! of washed 2 swatches of cloth 3 aged following soiling with oildag 4 and edible tallow Brightness Original cloth 78 soiled cloth, unwashed 22 (a) Washed, immediately after soiling,

.no aging 48 Kb) Washed sample after one day of aging 46 (c) Washed sample after six days of aging 43 (d) Washed sample after 15 days of aging 38 (e) Washed sample after 32 days of aging 36 lPedrcentage of reflectance compared to pure magnesia HS 0.

In an aqueous 0.1% solution of sodium st'carate at F. in a standard Launderometer.

3 Unbleached muslin.

A mixture consisting of colloidalgraphite and mineral oil.

It is believed that the primary cause for the greater difiiculty in removing soil containing oleaginous materials from fabrics during laundering operations is the oxidation of such fats and oils, the oxidation forming products which retain the soil in the loose structure of the fabric fibers much more tenaciously. The present invention provides a means of overcoming these difficulties as applied to those portions of wearing apparel and fabrics for other uses which are normally starched prior to their use. This invention provides a starching composition containing an anti-soil fixation agent which retards the oxidation of the oleaginous component of the soil, and thus eliminates the primary factor involved in the retention of the soil on the fabric. The presence of the anti-soil fixation agent in the starching composition, therefore, retards or prevents the fixation of the soil on the fabric and enables the oleaginous material to be removed substantially as rapidly as though the soiled fabric had been washed immediately following soil deposition or commensurate with the speed of soil removal where there has been no storage of the soiled fabric.

The starching composition of this invention contains a starching component, that is, a substance which provides stiffness, gloss, or other desirable properties to the desired starched fabric, including any of the presently used materials for this purpose, such as gloss starch or its various physical or chemical modifications, various resinous materials utilizable for this purpose, such as polyvinyl acetate, and other substances. The anti-soil fixation agent of the present composition which is added to the starching component in an amount of from about 0.01 to about by weightthereof, preferably from about 0.1 to about 2% by weight, is selected from the generally broad class of organic compounds utilizable as inhibitors or retarders of oxidation. As a class. such compounds are selected from the phenols, amino phenols, alkyl phenols, alkoxy phenols, alkyl alkoxy phenols, and the aromatic amines, diamines and polyamines of specified structures, and which generally contain other organic radicals which intensify the oxidation inhibiting potency of the compound Or affect its other physical or physiological properties. The anti-soil fixation agent is preferably at least partially water-soluble or dispersible in water with the aid of a surface active or emulsifying agent such that it may be evenly distributed throughout the starching composition and ultimately in the aqueous starching solution when utilized. When employed for starching wearing apparel, the anti-soil fixation agent is preferably selected from those compounds which are nonpoisonous and non-irritating to the human skin in the small amounts utilized in the starching composition. Specific classes of compounds within the above specified general groups are the polyhydric phenols, the alkyl phenols, the alkoxy phenols and the alkyl alkoxy phenols, typical of which are such compounds as hydroquinone Z-tertiary butyll-methoxyphenol, 2 isopropyl a-etlroxyphenol, 2,4-dimethyl-6-tertiary butylphenol, etc.; the aminophenols, typical of which are the N-mono-substituted secondary alkyl aminophenols, such as N-secondary butyl aminophenol, etc.; the phenylene diamines in which the amino groups are preferably substituted by alkyl groups, represented, for example, by the compound N,N'-disecondary butyl phenylene diamine and other compounds of generally similar structure. The preferred compounds of the above general classes are the alkoxyphenols and the alkyl alkoxyphenols, such. as p-methoxyphenol.

S-tertiary butylphenol and others which are generally relatively water-soluble in the small concentrations utilized in the starching composition and are, in general, non-toxic and nonirritating to human skin. The latter factors may be of primary consideration in the selection of a particular anti-soil fixation agent utilizable in starching fabrics to be worn as garments in contact with the skin. It is not intended, however, in thus specifying the preferred classes of compounds utilizable as anti-soil fixation agents to thereby exclude other oxidation retarders utilizable for purposes in which the above factors are of only minor or insignificant importance. Thus, other compounds which may not necessarily be desirable as starching compositions in the case of fabrics to be worn as garments, may not be objectionable in the case of fabrics for other purposes, such as table cloths, etc.

The anti-soil fixation agents herein specified as components of the present starching compositions are desirably dispersed throughout the starching composition uniformly and in intimate admixture with the starching component. Any means whereby such uniform dispersion is effected may be utilized, such as mixing the anti-soil fixation agent in a finely divided state with the starching component, as, for example, by tumbling or stirring or by dissolving or suspending the starching component in water, adding the active component to the aqueous solution or slurry to provide a mixture in which the components are uniformly interspersed, and thereafter drying the resulting mixture to form a dry, packageable powder in the form customarily used by consumers to prepare a starching solution. An aidin effecting the dispersion of the antisoil fixation agent in the aqueous phase, especially where the compound is relatively Water-insoluble, comprises emulsifying the compound with the aqueous phase and for this purpose a material commonly recognized as an emulsifying agent, such as a surface active agent or detergent may be dissolved in the aqueous phase and the mixture rapidly stirred or otherwise agitated to effect the desired dispersion. A preferred procedure for the preparation of a gloss starch containing the anti-soil fixation agent comprises dissolving the gloss starch in hot water, adding the desired amount of the compound thereto and thereafter spray drying the resulting solution to form a finely divided mass of readily water-soluble starching composition.

This invention is further illustrated with respect to specific embodiments thereof in the following examples. In specifying particular anti-soil fixation agents, particular compositions and procedures for producing the same, it is not thereby intended to limit the generally broad scope of the invention in strict accordance therewith, but merely to describe the particular applicability of the invention to several species of the utilizable alternatives herein.

Example I A laundry starching composition was prepared by incorporating 0.89% p-methoxyphenol into powdered gloss starch, the phenol being added to the starch in a finely powdered condition and the mixture thereafter tumbled in a rotary cylindrical tumbler to uniformly disperse the phenolic compound throughout the starch component. The resulting starch composition was added to boiling water to provide an aqueous starching solution containing 0.05% concentration of the anti-soil fixation agent in the starch solution. A number of swatches of cotton fabric was starched in the usual manner with the starching composition by dipping the cotton fabric in the aqueous starch solution and after drying were ironed flat. A second series of cotton fabric swatches were starched with an aqueous starching solution prepared by adding gloss starch itself, containing none of the p-methoxyphenol. The latter were control samples dried and ironed in the same manner as the starched fabric swatches containing the anti-soil fixation agent.

The two series of starehed fabric swatches (one series being starched by the starching composition containing 0.89% p-methoxyphenol and the second series having been starched with gloss starch only) were uniformly soiled by soaking the swatches in a standard soil consisting of coloidal graphite suspended in a mixture of mineral oil, edible tallow and carbon tetrachloride. Each series of fabrics were laundered in a standard laundering procedure utilizing a Launderometer apparatus in which an aqueous solution of alkyl aromatic sulfonate at 140 F. containing various concentrations of the detergent was utilized as the washing solution.

The resulting laundered swatches were tested for light reflectance therefrom utilizing a standard Reflectometer. The percentage reflectance of light from each of the cotton swatch samples for each of the respective series was compared with the reflectance from magnesia as the standard of 100% reflectance. The following table presents the results on fabrics aged for the various lengths of time indicated above and laundered in detergent solutions containing the designated concentration of sodium stearate therein. The percent efficiency is determined on the basis of the formula:

Reflectance of washed fabric Reflectance of soiled containing starch composition fabric containing starch composition Reflectance of soiled fabric containing starch only TABLE II Launderometer and reflectance tests of cotton swatches starched with a starching composition in which p-methoayphenol was present (Series A) and compositions in which p-methcan/phenol was absent (Series B) Reflectance of washed fabric X 100 containing starch only Example II A procedure similar to that employed in Example I was utilized in the following series of runs to determine the effect of a greater concentration of anti-soil fixation agent in the starching composition. Gloss starch was mixed with p-methoxyphenol to provide a composition containing 1.78% of the latter component. The reflectance evaluation for a series of cotton fabric test samples are indicated in the following table:

TABLE III Reflectance of cotton swatches wnifor'mly soiled and laundered after specified ageing periods, Series A swatches being starched with a .starching composition containing 1.78% pmethoxyphenol and Series B with a starch containing no p-methozryphenol Detergent eoncentration, weight percent in aqueous laundering I claim as my invention:

1. A composition for use in the laundering of fabrics comprising a starching component in finely divided solid form and having uniformly distributed therein from about 0.01 to about 10% by weight of a water-dispersible anti-soil fixation agent comprising an organic compound selected from the group consisting of lower alkoxyphenols and lower alkyl alkoxyphenols.

2. The composition of claim 1 further characterized in that said organic compound is an alkoxyphenol.

I 3. The composition of claim 1 further characterized in that said organic compound is pmethoxyphenol.

4. The composition of claim 1 further characterized in that said organic compound is an alkyl alkoxyphenol.

5. The composition of claim 1 further characterized in that said organic compound is a 2- tertiaryalkyl-4alkoxyphenol.

6. The composition of claim 1 further characterized in that said organic compound is 2- tertiarybutyl-4-methoxyphenol.

7. A starching composition containing gloss starch and from about 0.01 to about 5 by weight of 2-tertiarybutyl-4-methoxyphenol.

8. A composition as defined in claim 1 further characterized in that said starching component comprises gloss starch.

GEORGE L. HERVERT.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,121,502 Kesler June 21, 1938 2,137,168 Levey Nov. 15, 1938 2,137,169 Levey Nov. 15, 1933 2,317,752 Fuller Apr. 2'7, 1943 2,355,463 Nivling Aug. 8, 1944 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 534,112 Great Britain Feb. 27, 1941 

1. A COMPOSITION FOR USE IN THE LAUNDERING OF FABRIES COMPRISING A STARCHING COMPONENT IN FINELY DIVIDED SOLID FORM AND HAVING UNIFORMLY DISTRIBUTED THEREIN FROM ABOUT 0.01 TO ABOUT 10% BY WEIGHT OF A WATER-DISPERSIBLE ANTI-SOIL FIXATION AGENT COMPRISING AN ORGANIC COMPOUND SELECTED FROM THE GROUP CONSISTING OF LOWER ALKOXYPHENOLS AND LOWER ALKYL ALKOXYPHENOLS. 